Improvement



ZEBULON C. BROWN, OF ALBION, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN CRRIAGE=TP SUPPRTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 157,15 El, dated November 24, 1874; application tiled September 14, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ZnBULoN C. BROWN, of Albion, county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rests or Supports for Carriage-Tops, when folded or lowered; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in Which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved rest or support for acarriage-top. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the rubber cushion or steel spring used under the rest or support for the carriageftop. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a piece of tubing used for covering the sides of the fastening-bolt, and shielding them from view.

The nature of my invention consists in a rest for carriage-tops after they are folded or lowered, constructed with a hinged connee tion and a yielding cushion, as will be hereinafter described.

This rest or support is adapted for attachment to the side of a carriage, so as to lie in the plane of the standards of the top when thev are folded upon one another, and it can be arranged at an altitude which will insure the bearing of the weight of the top upon the rest, and the transfer of said weight from the rest to the rubber or spring cushion. By this contrivance the folded top is sustained by the relastic cushion, and thus much of the usual jar and strain are removed from the hinge of the carriage-top, and also from the hinge of the rest, and the durability off the carriage greatly increased.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a box, which may be a casting, constructed with a tubular portion, G, for a squareshanked bolt to pass through laterally, and with a stepped grooved portion, B, for a lever, D, to vibrate in vertically. The groove is made with parallel vertical sides at the point where the lever is pivoted, as at A', to the casting A, and back of this point its sides are vertical and convergent. Between the converging sides a spring of rubber or steel, B', is inserted from above. Vhen inserted the rubber cannot move longitudinally, and as it is provided with a lug, a, which enters a socket in the casting, it cannot move up and down. On the outer end ofthe lever is attached a cover or a padded cross-bar or plate, E, which serves as a support or rest for the standards ofthe carriage-top to lie upon when folded.

The contrivance described is fastened to the side of a carriage by a bolt passed through the hole in the tubular portion C, and between the carriagebody and the shoulder formed by the inside ofthe carriage a leather or other covering, F, is placed around the bolt. This covering is shown in Fig. 3; and in Fig. l it is in position, but the bolt is not Within it.

What I claim as my invention isl. rIhe box A, having jaws B, and constructed to receive and contine a cushion or spring, B', for supporting the pivot of a carriage-top rest, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The hinged rest D E, in combination with the box A and a suitable spring, B', substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination oi the box A, yielding cushion or spring B', and hinged lever-D, substantially as and for the purpose described.

ZEBULON C. BROWN. Vitnesses:

A. R. BROWN, N. L. BROWN. 

